The guitar is a popular instrument, with copious amounts of people starting to learn how to play the instrument year after year. Despite this, very few people persevere with learning to play the guitar, as only 10% of the population can actually play the guitar. No one said that learning to play an instrument was easy, and that’s why so few people actually stick out the learning process until they’re successful. In order to create a rockstar image, this hard work is essential. It’s not enough to puff on vaping kits and wear leather; to be a rockstar, you have to play your instrument well.
If you’re a complete beginner, getting to the point at which you can play guitar confidently might seem a million miles away. To that end, detailed below are just some of the top guitar learning tips to get you started on your journey.
Use a Metronome
Metronomes help ensure that you’re playing with the right rhythm and timing, which is essential if you’re looking to perform with other musicians in the future. Helpfully, there are free metronomes online to get you started if you want to try one out before you commit to making a purchase.
Rehearse Standing Up
We’ll discuss later why you don’t want to look at your hands too much when learning to play the guitar,but standing up can help you avoid forming this habit. After all, it will be much more difficult to stare down at your hands if you’re standing up. Similarly, if your goal is to one day become a performer, you’re going to need to know how to play standing up. You’re not going to have as much of a powerful stage presence if you’re restricted to a chair or stool.
Practice Difficult Chords
Once you nail a chord, it can be really tempting to just keep playing that same chord over and over again. After all, it sounds good, and it makes you feel as though you’ve achieved something. Despite this, you can’t expect to improve if you don’t practice the chords that you find more difficult. It can be disheartening when it doesn’t sound how it’s supposed to, but this is what you need to work through if you want to be a top guitar player. In fact, many of the greats actually strayed from traditional chords and developed their own variations to create their unique sounds.
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Try Not to Look at Your Hands
The temptation to look at your hands while playing is huge for a beginner, and while it’s important to see where your hands are positioned in the early stages of your learning journey, you don’t want to end up relying on sight alone. As a result, you should try not to look at your hands too intently, as this will allow you to use touch to determine where your hands need to be. Learning to play the guitar is all about forming a connection with the instrument, meaning you should avoid anything that’s likely to result in a disjointed experience.
Start Slowly
In a mission to sound like their favourite musicians instantly, beginners tend to try and get through the chords as fast as they can. As a first-time learner, rushing through the chords won’t allow you to position your hand properly, and it won’t give you time to fully understand and remember the chords. Therefore, you should learn each chord slowly and build up your speed in moving between them over time. This way, you won’t pick up bad habits that come from trying to run before you can walk.